Device for preventing the fraudulent refilling of cigar-boxes.



DEVICE FOR PREVENTING THE FRAUDULENT REPILLING 0F CIGAR BOXES.

T. M. LOSIE, JR.

PATENTED JUNE 11, 1907.

APPLICATION FILED OUT-5. 1905.

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ATTORNEY THOMAS M. LOSIE, JR,

OF ELMIRA, NEW YORK.

DEVICE FOR PREVENTING THE FRAUDULENT REFILLING OF ClGAR-BOXES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1907.

Application filed October 5 1905. Serial No. 231,435-

To to whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Trioniis Mj Losin, Jr. a citizen of the United States, residing at Elmira, in the county of Chemung and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Device for Preventing the Fraudulent Refilling of Cigar-Boxes, of which the followmg is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for preventing the fraudulent sale of low grade in place of high grade cigars or the sale of one make of cigars for that of another; and the object of my invention is to provide means for detecting, and thereby preventing,.the insertion of cigars in a cigar box after all or a portion of the cigars originally placed therein have been removed.

I attain my object by applying to the cigars and the containing box a device comprising co-operating parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a cigar box filled with cigars and provided with my device, and Fig. 2, a detail showing the manner of preparing cigars for insertion in the box.

In carrying out my invention, I thread through each cigar, at the end which is to be clipped oil", a narrow strip of paper, ribbon or other suitable material, as shown more clearly at A in Fig. 2, said strip being provided at one end with an eye hole, and the other end being slashed or frayed out.

The cigar boxes to contain these cigars are provided with rods B passed through holes at opposite ends of the box in position to lie either above or below each layer of cigars. In order to fasten these rods in the box and to prevent them from being pulled away therefrom, I preferably head over one end, as indicated at C, the end of the box being countersunk to receive these heads, and the other ends of the rods being passed through the opposite end of the box and bent over at right angles into longitudinal grooves cut in the box end. In placing the cigars in the box, each rod, in running it through from one end to the other, will be threaded through the eyes in the strips A, which have previously been run through the cigar ends, the end D of the rod being then bent over into its groove; and the ends 0 and D of all the rods are to be covered and concealed by paper strips E pasted along the edges and corners of the box, but, preferably, by pasting over said ends the revenue stamps or proprietary labels. These rods B may be located at one side of the box, or part at one side and part at the opposite side, according to the manner in which the cigars are packed.

In taking the cigars from a box, as so packed, hey will be drawn away from the strips A; or said strips will be torn from the rods B, and subsequently removed. from the cigars. By reason of the slashed or frayed ends of the strips, if the strips are left on the rods, it will be practically impossible to thread them into a second set of cigars; and since the strips cannot be detached from the rods to use the other end for this purpose without destroying the eye or removing the rods,they cannot be re placed upon the rods without detection; for the reason the rods cannot be removed from the box, so as to thread in a new series of cigars, without breaking the ends of the box or mutilating the covering strips. Instead of heading over one end of the rods, both ends may be bent into grooves at the ends of the box, as at D. Other ways of fastening the rods in the box may also be employed, and in place of the rods strong wires or cords may be employed. wires or cords, or the like, constitute retaining bars upon which the detector strips are threaded.

Moreover, I do not limit myself to the manner, herein described, of attaching the strips to the cigars, nor to the means for fastening said strips in the box.

Having thus described my device, what I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. A device of the character described comprising the combination, with a cigar box, of a bar inserted in the box in position to lie adjacent the ends of a layer of cigars when placed in the box, means for preventing the removal and reinsertirm of said bar without detection, and. strips of suitable material threaded upon the bar when it is inserted in the box, each of said strips being previously attached to a cigar in such manner that the connection between the strip and the bar or between the strip and the cigar must be broken when removing a cigar from the box.

2. A device of the character described comprising the combination, with a cigar box, of bars passing across between the ends of the box in position to lie adjacent the ends of each layer of cigars when placed in a box. means for preventing the removal and reinsertion of said bars without detection, and strips of suitable material tln'eaded upon the Such rods,

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bars when the latterlare insertedin the box, the box, the severance of the cigars from which free ends of said strips being slashed or frayed strips Will cause the removal of an original out for the purpose set forth and each o1 said cigar from the box to be detected.

strips to be inserted in the end of a cigar be- In testimony whereof I have affixed my 5 fore threading them upon the rods. signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

3. A device of the character described comprising the combination, with a cigar THOMAS LOSIE box, of a plurality of strips of suitable mate- Witnesses: rial secured to the box and each passed J. H. OBRIEN,

I through the end of a cigar when placed in the A. DIvEN. 

